


guess we’re friends now (don’t look so mad about it)

by strange_index



Series: i’d burn this place to the ground (if it didn’t have you) [1]
Category: Final Fantasy XIV
Genre: Alternate Universe - Childhood Friends, Au Ra Warrior of Light (Final Fantasy XIV), Fluff, M/M, Male Warrior of Light (Final Fantasy XIV), Minor Violence, Soft Zenos yae Galvus, but he's a little nicer, for now, hasn't been isolated since childhood in this one, no beta we die like the ascian homeworld, unhealthy amounts of headcanon, zenos typical warnings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-12
Updated: 2021-02-13
Packaged: 2021-03-12 15:15:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,575
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29386878
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/strange_index/pseuds/strange_index
Summary: Two boys both alike in… well, not many ways, but different strokes for different folks!Prince Zenos is set upon by an annoying (and tiny) foreign intruder in the palace gardens. Just what is keeping him from calling the guards on this savage again?~~~“Speak! Convince me not to sic the canus on you,” the blond sneered.Umbra glared, rubbing his tail. “Alright already, calm down! I wanna be your fight buddy!”“...what.”
Relationships: Zenos yae Galvus/Warrior of Light (Final Fantasy XIV)
Series: i’d burn this place to the ground (if it didn’t have you) [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2158644
Kudos: 15





	1. Two Brats

**Author's Note:**

> Eyo, sinners! \o/
> 
> Here's that piece I promised (like, immediately) setting the ground work for the Childhood Friends AU for eventual Zenos/WoL!
> 
> Watch 'em start off as two rude brats that grow into two battle-crazy weirdos together.

“Hi, I’m Umbra! What’s your name?”

A slow blink from the blond boy seated beside a massive statue.

“Oh, are ya busy? What’re ya doin’?”

Another blink. “...Reading,” came the answer, after some hesitation.

“Woah, you read big books like that by yourself?! Not cuz nobody told you to or nothin’?!”

A twitch of a blond brow. Umbra was sure if the boy’s third eye could it would be joining his other eyes in yet another annoyed blink. 

“...What do you want.”

A statement, seemingly a questionless question. A very odd and formal way to tell Umbra to get lost coming from a kid his age. Speaking of...

“I wanna know how you got so good at reading! You’re probly like a year bigger or somethin’, so you gotta know a good teacher, right?” Umbra was bouncing on his toes. Learning to read means learning to help Ma find more of the papers she gives to the Garlays (Garleens? Garlayas??). She doesn’t have a lot of them, but Umbra bets he could make some if he just knew what they said.

“How boring.”

Umbra gaped at the boy when he stood up and patted the dust from his trousers. “Wait, where ya going? What did I say?!” Umbra didn’t think he was talking too loud again, Ma always warned him about that, about the Garleens taking him to be punished.

A cold stare from pale blue eyes, a slight frown on the boy’s face. “If you’re going to waste my time, at least waste it truthfully. Tell me why you wanted to speak with me so badly you would infiltrate the Royal Gardens. And make it quick.” 

Frantically, Umbra waved his arms in front of the other boy. “Okay, okay! Shit. Look, I just... kinda...” Umbra hesitated, wringing his hands, perhaps going with his impulse had been the wrong move...

Impatient, the blond huffed, rolling his eyes. He turned on his heel and began marching back to the palace, saying, “Perhaps the guards can get you to talk—“

“No!”

Umbra, small as he was, couldn’t hope to hold the taller boy down. However, he could get him to the ground and stun him for a bit by knocking his legs out from under him with a move tried and tested on his older brother. The blond let out a surprised yelp before tumbling to the ground, whipping around quickly to kick out at Umbra. The smaller boy rolled to avoid the kick and ended up caught by the tail.

“Ah, fuck, stop it! You win, I’ll tell you!” Umbra flailed, catching the larger boy in the chest and gut with his kicks. Winded, the other boy dropped his tail and glared at Umbra while hunched over. Umbra glared right back, lightly rubbing his pinched tail.

“Ugh, you’re such a dick.”

Eyes narrowed, the boy’s gaze seemed to burn with indignation, the first real emotion he had displayed so far. He sneered, “Speak! Convince me not to sic the canus on you.”

Umbra glared at the blond. “Alright already, calm down! I wanna be your fight buddy!”

Silence.

“...what.”

“Look, just hear me out,” he continued, picking up steam. His Ma always told him he was a gifted chatterbox, could keep clients waiting for a little longer at the production line and smoothing ruffled feathers when the sword orders were a few short than agreed due to being shorthanded. Unfortunately, it seems like this kid won’t take empty flattery and simpering praise for a change... 

“I know you get sword school, or somethin’,” Umbra spit out, glaring. “And I wanna use a sword too! We make them in the factory every day and I don’t know nothin’ ‘bout usin’ ‘em! The guards don’t listen when we need help so I’m gonna help.”

The blond boy stared Umbra down before picking up the large tome he had been reading before. “So you’re weak,” he said. He brushed off the cover and Umbra saw a gold embroidered dragon glittering on it. “You’re just another weakling barking at nothing. I’m done here.”

“Aw, come on!” Umbra shot to his feet before the other boy could. “Think about it! When you get trainin’, do you ever fight anybody your size or smaller?”

The boy paused, still sitting where they’d fallen. He raised a brow, face blank. “No. My instructors are larger than I.”

“Exactly!” Umbra crossed his arms. “All you Garleens are so big, you’re gonna have a hard time learnin’ to fight smaller guys. What if a tiny assassin comes after you?!”

Smug as he was, Umbra didn’t notice the boy standing over him and backing him into the boundary wall of the statue until he bumped into it. The boy, twice his height, stared down at him with bored eyes belied by a vicious smirk. “Why would an assassin come after me?”

Shit... “....Uh, well, ya know, cuz of you being so close to the prince! They might think you... uh, might mistake you for... him?”

More staring with an insultingly smug attitude. “They might mistake me for the prince. And who do you mistake me for?”

Umbra slipped to the side but was grabbed by the tail yet again. “Not the fucking tail, bastard!” He slammed an elbow into the lower back of the other boy and flipped forward and away, dancing out of his reach.

Heaving a sigh, the other boy rubbed at his back and glowered at Umbra. “Enough games. Speak plainly or I’ll kill you myself.”

Rubbing his tail, Umbra stomped his foot. “Fine! I know you’re the prince and you get all the good training! I wanna fight, and let’s face it, you have absolutely no fucking friends.”

The prince stared blandly. “I have no need for ‘friends’. Especially not runts too weak to stand on their own—“

“I threw your big ass around twice!”

A pause and a small grin. “I could have you executed.”

“Aw for fuck’s sake, just teach me how to use a sword! What are the odds yer gonna have someone actually beggin’ to train with you?!”

The prince grimaced. “I don’t need—“

“Yeah you do! I’m half your size and I still got outta your hands like twice. You gotta admit I’m better than you thought I’d be.”

A small huff from behind a hand. Umbra twitched, squinting at the prince. “Did... did you just laugh—?”

“A question for you.”

Umbra snapped straight. “Uh, yeah?”

“What do you make of this?” He showed Umbra the book, it’s cover now clearly visible with a golden outline of a ferocious dragon and a far smaller man wielding a spear.

Umbra raised an eyebrow. “I think that guy’s gonna need a bigger sword, that stick isn’t gonna do much to a dragon that big.”

The book seemed to shake lightly a few times and Umbra snaps his gaze up to stair at the blond, who was hiding his face behind his shoulder length hair. He could just make out his twitching smirk and pouted. “Don’t fucking laugh at me, you big jerk! I’m serious!”

A barked out laugh and the prince looked back up to smirk at Umbra. “A man dares to fight a beast hundreds of fulms long and the only aspect of the image you criticize is his choice of weapon?”

“Well, Ma always says you gotta get the tool for the job,” Umbra shrugged. “And that toothpick just ain’t gonna do it.” 

“So you believe, with a big enough sword, man can fell any beast?”

“Well... I guess you might need something bigger than a sword sometimes. Like a cannon!” Umbra bounced in place. “Would you be getting cannon training?! Some of the Garleens carry big guns like that outside and I wanna use one!”

“Come back tomorrow and I will see if I can sneak out a gunblade to test out.”

Umbra stared with wide eyes. “...you’re serious?!”

The prince rolled his eyes. “I don’t joke about training, runt.”

“Hey!” Umbra stomped up to the prince and poked him in the chest. “That’s not nice! My name is Umbra, I already told you that!”

“You will call me Zenos, runt.”

“Runt?! Look, I’ll call you whatever I want, blondie! Or you want something cute? Like Zen-zen, Zenny,” Umbra finished with a sneer.

A blond eyebrow twitch. “I said ‘Zee-nos’. You’re pronunciation is atrocious, runt.”

“And I’m gonna call you Zenny. Just cuz yer attitude is ah-tro-shush-er,” Umbra finished with a wrinkled nose. Then he blinked. “Wait a minute, how old even are you? Who uses ‘atro-shush’ for real?”

Zenos smirked. “You really are quite stupid.” Ignoring the indignant squawks of Umbra, he continued, “I will be turning twelve in the next month.” 

The shrieking stopped instantly.

“But you’re freakin’ huuuge!” Umbra was beside himself, face crumpled in apparent agony. “Damn it, I’m thirteen and you’re already twice as big as I am!” Umbra crossed his arms, annoyed. “I better get taller soon.”

“I doubt you’ll get as tall as me. If my father is any indication of what I have to look forward to,” Zenos said with a slight grimace.

“Lucky,” Umbra sighed, wistful. “I wanna be tall and strong and scary like that. So nobody messes with my Ma.”

“I doubt it, but stranger things have happened.” Tucking his book under his arm, Zenos walked past Umbra and towards the palace in the distance. “Return here tomorrow at the same time and we will spar,” he said without turning.

“Oka—wait! Didn’t you say you were gonna train me first?!”

“No better training than trial by blade, runt.”


	2. Two Bros

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eyo, back at it again sinners~~~ \o/
> 
> Final part (for now) of Umbra and Zenos' backstory as two brats hanging out.

“Wow, I can’t believe you remember all that.”

“I remember everything, my friend. Especially the particulars of our first duel.”

“That wasn’t a duel, asshole, you chased me with a sword for half an hour!”

“And you had remarkable stamina for one so small. Your legs were barely half the length of my own.”

Umbra sighed, defeated, while Zenos smirked beside him. The prince had shot up remarkably over the years—though with his Garlean royal heritage, it was to be expected he would top out around almost eight feet tall. Umbra had his own growth spurt, now reaching his friend’s shoulder at a little over six feet. He had finally grown out of being a ‘runt’ to everyone but his massive childhood accomplice, the towering bastard.

The two grew and managed to stay rather closely knit. Umbra managed to reign in his temper with the amount of ungodly training Zenos put him through and Zenos’ more... homicidal urges were often waylaid by Umbra challenging him to yet another ridiculous feat to occupy him. 

By the time they were in their twenties, Umbra had managed to gain quite a bit of prestige as a conscripted soldier thanks to his advanced training and rose to the rank of royal guard—although this was mainly due to Zenos being unable to act civil to another living thing besides him for more than an hour. Zenos’ moods and threats were annoying, but they were part of the package of the big fucking nerd that loved new weapons, stories about heroes fighting monsters and garish tapestries from Umbra’s homeland.

In turn, Zenos continued to train Umbra even as he surpassed him with his freakishly large form and enhanced physiology. Umbra heard about the labs, even saw Zenos return from them late some nights. The prince would often be exhausted enough that he could be coaxed into sitting in his room and loudly arguing the strongest heroes in his books. Zenos even told Umbra to consider the aetherical procedure he’d been experimenting on himself.

“The Resonant is critical to achieving new heights of power,” he explained. “Even the gods will be made to kneel before it.”

Umbra had shrugged. “Nah, I think I’ll just stick with what I’ve got. But if you use the Resonant during one of our spars, imma be pretty fucking pissed, you Behemoth.”

Chuckling, Zenos had ominously waved off the threat. “Should I do so and accidentally kill you, there would be no one to blame but yourself, my friend.” Zenos had stared at Umbra’s overdramatic pout for a few long seconds before letting out a low hum. “I fear my days in this place would become unbearably dull without you.”

Umbra had blinked up at him while Zenos continued, “Beating you at every challenge you propose has accustomed me to victory several times a day, runt.”

It was then that Umbra had thrown a (rather expensive) chair at Zenos and spent the rest of their afternoon sprinting through the palace halls and terrifying the staff.

In the present, Umbra sighs. “I really don’t see why His Radiance needs me to stand with you in  _ every  _ meeting. Does he really think yer gonna get assassinated within two feet of every security measure the Empire has at its disposal? Everyone already knows I’m more of a ‘ _ take the bullet for the prince _ ’ guy than a ‘ _ I know how to read a map _ ’ guy.”

A snort from beside him. Despite his longer stride, the prince tended to walk at an even pace with his guardsman, forcing others to press against the walls and duck into hallways to keep from being bulldozed. Umbra made sure to smile and wave apologetically as they marched to the audience chamber of His Radiance.

“He enjoys observing you.”

Umbra blinked. “Who?”

A dry stare cut at him from above. Zenos sounded amused when he clarified, “My father. He is puzzled by our continued interaction. Perhaps the old fool thinks he will see why I haven’t killed you yet carved into your forehead.”

Umbra groaned, scratching at one of his horns that jut forward and flank his jaw, soothed slightly by the vibrating hum his nails make along their surface. “I really don’t think that’s it. I mean, sure, you’re an asshole, but we’ve broken each other’s bones enough to get bored of it already... Oh fuck, do you think he’s gonna execute me for that time you fell off the roof?!”

“No, that was years ago. And I was  _ tossed  _ off the roof, runt. You were the one that tossed me.”

Umbra scowled up at him as Zenos got that creepy (adorable) spaced-out grin on his face. “It was a marvelous redirection.” The grin stayed in place for a few seconds before morphing into a faintly surprised face. “You never revealed where you learned to pull bodies through the air like you did then.”

“Pull bodies? Oh! It’s called Rescue, bro. Which you’d know if you ever read  _ any  _ of the intelligence reports on Eorzean traditions I bring back for Var--er, His Radiance,” he quickly corrected, glancing down the empty halls. An Au Ra could never be too careful in Garlemald, even with the crown prince as an acquaintance. “It’s part of their oldest healing discipline: the Conjurers.” 

He conveniently left out that he’d discovered an even stronger variant called White Mages. Couldn’t have Zenny running off to fight a bunch of healers in a forest just cuz they can cast explosive orbs of light. He’d never hear the end of it from Varis.

  
_ Although, I wonder just when Varis is gonna let Zenos check out Eorzea with me… _ Umbra thought, as the two of them arrived at the Throne Room. After all, the aetheric winds were blowing something fierce in that strange continent. Sometimes he could just hear a voice, calling him there...


End file.
